Connection port is 0.1" pitch, single row for easy breadboarding and wiring

Single LED backlight with a resistor included, you can power it directly from 5V. If it's too bright for you, it can be dimmed easily with a resistor or PWM and uses much less power than LCD with EL (electroluminescent) backlights

Can be fully controlled with only 6 digital lines!

Built in character set supports English/Japanese text, see the HD44780 datasheet for the full character set

Up to 8 extra characters can be created for custom glyphs or 'foreign' language support (like special accents)